Eastern Visayas Media Without Borders
Tacloban City–The regional Office 8 of the Philippine Statistics Authority ( PSA) revealed as of July 1, 2024, the total population of Eastern Visayas stood at 4,625,929.
This count is based on the 2024 Census of Population (2024 POPCEN) released officially through Proclamation No. 973 dated 11 July 2025. The population of the region accounted for about 4.1 percent of the country’s 112,729,484 total population.
Philippine Statistics Authority Compared with the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (2020 CPH), the regional population in 2024 increased by about 78,779 from 4.55 million in 2020.
The region’s annual population growth rate (PGR) from 2020 to 2024 slowed down to 0.41 percent, translating to an average of about 4 additional persons for every 1,000 population per year.
This growth rate is lower than the 0.50 percent recorded between 2015 and 2020. Among the six provinces in Eastern Visayas, Leyte (excluding Tacloban City) registered the largest population in 2024 with 1.82 million, accounting for 39.4 percent of the region’s total population.
PSA regional director Wilma Perante on her report emphasized that the annual Population Growth Rate (in percent)Figure 1. Total Population and Annual Population Growth Rate, Eastern Visayas: Census Years 1960 – 2024 (Total Population in millions, Annual Population Growth Rate in percent) 2 806,179 population (17.4%),
Northern Samar with 645,789 (14.0%), Eastern Samar with 472,683 (10.2%), and Southern Leyte with 434,372 (9.4%). The least populated province was Biliran, with 184,095 residents, comprising around 4.0 percent of the region’s total population. Meanwhile, the lone Highly Urbanized City (HUC) of Tacloban recorded a total population of 259,353 in 2024, accounting for 5.6 percent of the total population of Eastern Visayas.
Three (3) out of 6 provinces in the region, namely Biliran, Leyte (excluding Tacloban City), and Southern Leyte experienced a slowdown in annual PGR from 2015-2020 to 2020-2024. In contrast, Samar and Northern Samar posted increases in their annual PGRs, while Eastern Samar recorded a population decline.
Biliran was the fastest growing province with an annual PGR of 0.63 percent from 2020 to 2024, closely followed by Leyte (excluding Tacloban City) with 0.62 percent. Samar ranked third with an annual PGR of 0.39 percent, followed by Southern Leyte at 0.27 percent, and Northern Samar at 0.25 percent.
Meanwhile, Eastern Samar was the only province to record a negative growth rate, posting the lowest PGR at -0.23 percent. Tacloban City, the region’s lone HUC, posted an annual PGR of 0.70 percent for the period 2020-2024, lower than the 0.84 percent recorded in 2015-2020. The PSA extends its sincere appreciation to the public for their continued support and active participation in the conduct of the 2024 POPCEN.
This nationwide undertaking marks the 16th census of population in the Philippines since the first census was conducted in 1903. The most recent population data .
